1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the organization and display of electronic media content, including available or recommended electronic media content. More particularly and without limitation, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for the identification, ranking, and display of available or recommended electronic media content on the Internet.
2. Background Information
Traditionally, broadcasters of television multimedia content have used electronic programming guides (EPG) to display available television content in a two-dimensional grid. EPGs typically display a list of television channels on the vertical axis, and a broadcast time on the horizontal axis. Thus, the arrangement of content in the two-dimensional grid is used to convey information about the content (namely, channel and time).
EPGs are primarily used as a way to browse broadcast television content that is currently on-air or about to be on-air, and to browse recorded content on time shifting devices, such as a digital video recorder (DVR). EPGs may be useful for displaying available content that only airs at specific times, but EPGs have not previously been used for displaying web content that can be selected and viewed by an Internet user at any moment.
On the Internet, people usually discover and view multimedia and other electronic media content in one or more fundamentally different ways: keyword searching, browsing collections, selecting related content, and link sharing. Because the content may be viewed at any time, it is typically just listed in a one-dimensional queue that fails to convey any information about the content by virtue of its arrangement. For example, a common way to browse a video collection is to display a list of images that the user can click to watch the videos. A user interface may be provided to allow the user to narrow the displayed list by category, television show, tag, date produced, source, or popularity. However, the list may nevertheless fail to sufficiently convey additional information, guidance, or suggested content to the user. The user is usually required to determine which video to select without knowing whether it will likely be enjoyable. As a result, users of the Internet often view content that they do not necessarily appreciate. Undesirable content can lead to users traveling away from the content sites, which may result in an attendant decrease in advertising revenue. As a corollary, the successful display and recommendation of electronic media content can be useful in attracting and retaining Internet users, thereby increasing online advertising revenue.
As a result, there is a need for improved systems and methods for organizing and displaying electronic media content, including available or recommended electronic media content. There is also a need for systems and methods for the identification, ranking, and/or display of available or recommended electronic media content on the Internet.